Argosy, Vol. 1 (1882) — page 212: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

o- AN AFRICAN SECRET. It was slow progress for the carriers. Bradshaw and Pan had left the train at sunrise that morning because it seemed that they had plunged into an impass- able wilderness. They had gone out to seek a better route, and the forest was no less troublesome now than it was then. There was nothing for it, how- ever, but to struggle on, for they be- lieved 1t would be certain destruction to make for the open upland. They came to no suitable place for camping before nightfall, and had to make the best shift they could in the jungle. Extra precautions were taken to guard against surprise: pickets were doubled, and Bradshaw and Pan took turns in patrolling the outskirts of the camp. No disturbance of any kind occurred, and the next day, when they pushed a few miles further in the same toilsome fashion, they were still unmolested. With every hour that passed, Brad- shaw’s confidence grew stronger, and he would have made for the open if he had followed his own judgment, but Pan was simply obdurate in his imnsist- ence that caution was still necessary, and Pan had proved himself too trust- worthy to be summarily overruled. Four days more were spent in la- borious marching through seemingly interminable thickets, when at length the ground began to slant upward, and they came at last to comparatively open hill country. Bradshaw had fretted a good deal over the slow progress, and was finding it extremely irksome to be held down to Pan’s ideas. Pan, meantime, took all the grumbling with impassive gravity, as if that were a necessary part of the game, but he stuck to his advice with unexampled persistence. “Now,” said Bradshaw, when they came to the first open place, “we can go on as if we had a right to live.” “TI don’t know,” Pan responded; “ I wish we could come to a river and make rafts so as to get further and faster away from that tribe.” 203 “ Nonsense!” cried his employer, “we're on safe enough ground by this time.” Pan made no reply, but there was that in his grave expression that showed he doubted. He made no further ob- jections, however, to proceeding ac- cording to Bradshaw’s desire, and that night, when they camped in a ravine near the summit of the ridge they had been climbing, they resumed the ordi- nary devices for protection from assault by men or beasts. Since leaving the neighborhood of the execution tree they had had but one little episode to relieve the dull monot- ony of the march, and that, considering that they were in the heart of Africa, would hardly be worth the telling if it were not for the bearing it had on sub- sequent matters. It was on this last day and after they had struck into the hills. One of the carriers was at the mo- ment a little in advance of the party, and next behind him were Bradshaw and Pan. Suddenly the carrier came leaping back, his mouth agape with terror. There was no need to ask what was the matter, for a deep growling sounded near. ‘“A lion!” exclaimed Bradshaw, his voice vibrant with the pleasurable ex- citement of encountering big game. Their rifles in readiness, he and Pan went on a few paces until they found themselves confronted by a lioness. She faced them growling and whisk- ing her tail, while her eyes seemed to be on fire with determination. A young cub, who looked as innocent as any kitten, was sitting beside her, staring with unmistakable interest at the in- truders. “ She'll fight hard,” whispered Pan. “ Tf it hadn’t been for her cub she would probably have run from us.” Bradshaw was aiming, and as Pan ceased, he fired. The great beast leaped her length into the air and fell motion- less, save for the last qvivoing i CO death.